Mega Man 2 Bead Art

Redherring of Craftster.org crafted these magnificent Mega Man 2 scenes entirely out of perler beads. The project consisted of over 60,000 individual beads and six months of work.  Impressive, to say the least.

You can check out a couple more images of the project at this topic here.

Polls Open For Sheep Man Fan-Art Contest

Voting has begun for the weekly Mega Man 10 fan-art contest. Users can vote on their favorite piece of Sheep Man art from now until Monday. The entries can be found in this gallery here, and you can place your vote at PollDaddy. Cookie and IP address blocks are in place, so you may only vote once!

[via Capcom-Unity]

AVGN Reads Worlds of Power: Mega Man 2

Why read that crummy Mega Man 2 novelization when you could have it read to you?  The Angry Video Game Nerd reads aloud the book in its entirety in his latest video series:

Believe it or not, this goes on for another four parts. If you've got nothing to do for an hour and 16 minutes, kick back and have a listen to the remaining chapters at CinemaMassacre.com

More Badass Vile Goodness

A website by the name of FG has come through with a handful of high-res photos of the upcoming Wonder Festival 2010 Vile figure. You can check em' out in all their glory after the break...

Rockman 4 Coming Soon To JP Virtual Console

According to Nintendo of Japan's Virtual Console release schedule, Rockman 4: A New Ambition is expected to release on the Wii's Virtual Console in February for 500 Nintendo Points. Hopefully, Mega Man 4's release isn't too far off...

Mega Man 10's Time Attack Mode Features Replays

Coming from the official Rockman 10 website:

"More great functions are now also available in Time Attack. Including the replay function, you can see people’s top Time Attack rankings. Using Super Play to watch everyone on top of the rankings, you can enjoy the best time or make some notes. Playing for top rank, it’ll be the opportunity to unveil an amazing player! Some players will have confidence in their ability, just watching others, participating more and more!"

Interesting. Hope to hear more details soon!
(Be sure to check out the above link for new MM10 images)

Credit and translation: Skylagoon

Zero Collection Product Description Reveals New Modes

Online retailer GMStar's Rockman Zero Collection pre-order page has revealed two new modes for the upcoming game.

The first mode, Easy Scenario, is a bit scarce on the details, but according to what we have, it let's you play through all four Zero games with "All special weapons and systems are fully recreated." The second mode, Collection Mode, is a bit more interesting. Here, you progress through each game in the series and collect pieces of data which include:

Modification Cards - collectible illustrations that also modify various gameplay elements (e-Modification cards)

Character Card Collection - cards that feature various characters and commentary; an encyclopedia of sorts

Wallpaper Collection - Image and Concept Illustrations can be collected and set as wallpapers

Credit: Skylagoon

Mega Man Zero Collection Heading To US, Europe

It was only a matter of time: Capcom today announced that the Mega Man Zero Collection is coming to the US and Europe this summer. Check out the official press release after the break for more details...

Do You Want Rockman Kubricks Sold Outside of Japan?

You remember those awesomely adorable Rockman and Blues Kubrick figures, don't you? Well, they're only going to be released in Japan for the time being, but Capcom USA is curious if you guys, the fans, would like to see them released elsewhere:

"If you watched the live Mega Man 22nd Birthday Celebration back in December, you'll probably remember these Medicom Mega Man Kubrick and BearBrick figures. The problem is, they're only available in Japan. Here's where you come in. If you'd like to see these figures come stateside, hit the comments!"

If this is something relevant to your interest, make your way over to Capcom Unity and drop a comment!

High-Res Mega Man 10 'Box Art'

We've seen this lovely piece of art several times before, but now it's in a much higher resolution. Provided by Capcom's jgonzo, here it is again:

 Click here for a super high-res/wallpaper version (56k warning!)
[via Capcom-Unity]

Nice Jacket

Japanese fan-site Rockmania recently got a hold of a bit of a rarity: a Rockman team staff jacket.

This fine piece of swag (currently in possession of Akira Yoshida, Crash Man's designer) was worn by a Rockman staff member, who, based on the years featured on the jacket, likely had a hand in Rockman 1 and/or Rockman 2's development. (Hey, it might have even belonged to Inafune.)

Pretty sweet, no? I imagine this would fetch a pretty penny, but its sentimental value has got to be through the roof; unlikely Yoshida will ever part with it.

Thanks for the tip, Jay.

The Unstoppable Sparta Man

What if Mega Man were an invincible, unstoppable force? Capable of not only walking on top of pesky spikes, but also defeating foes simply by walking into them? Well, unfortunately, Mega Man wasn't built to be that tough, but 'Sparta Man' is.  The star of the new game from Newgrounds, Sparta Man 2, does everything that Mega Man can't do.

It's quite a satisfying little game, a great diversion if you've got a few minutes to burn! Give it a whirl at Newgrounds.

Credit: jgonzo via Capcom-Unity

Dead Rising Movie Trailer Features Servbot Cameo

Capcom today announced that a live action Dead Rising movie is in the works during a Microsoft press conference. A teaser trailer was presented, which you can check out below. Be on the lookout for a very brief Servbot cameo around the 30 second mark...

The film, directed and co-written by none other than Keiji Inafune, will debut this year exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

[via Kotaku] thanks, Trike.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom Releases

They said it wouldn't happen, but it is! The highly anticipated fighter, Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars hits retailers nationwide tomorrow.

The latest game in Capcom's popular 'versus' series, TvC pits Capcom's iconic characters against Tatsunoko Productions anime superheroes in an all out brawl.  Why should you care? Amidst TvC's colorful roster are three Mega Man series reps: Mega Man Volnutt (of Legends series fame), classic series Roll, and the red crusader himself, Zero!  What's more, Mega Man X also makes a special appearance during Frank West's Hyper Combo attack, in which Frank dons his X-inspired armor:

Although TvC is arriving on shelves tomorrow, reports have come in that some stores, namely K-Mart and Wal-Mart, have already begun selling the game as early as Saturday. Call ahead of time, and see if they have it in stock before making the trip!

(and yes, before anyone asks, feel free to post your Friend Codes and the like in the comments)

Mega Man: The Big Red Bomber

Reader Charles was cleaning out his basement over the weekend when he discovered this rather fun piece of Mega Man history:

Yet another phase of Capcom's Mega Man 15th anniversary marketing blitz, the blue bomber here graced packages of Big Red soda pop in the fall of 2003.  Apparently, the promotion featured a special offer that let you save $5 on upcoming Mega Man games, and a sweepstakes to win a trip to become a "developer for a day" at Capcom HQ. What a prize, eh?  I wonder what became of the winner...?

Now I don't remember seeing this particular promotion offered at my local grocery store, but I do recall memories of a similar promotion with ASAP Pop-corn. I still have that package lying around somewhere; I'll post it up when I find it!

Thanks, Charles!

TVC: Mega Man, Zero and Roll's New Endings (Spoilers!)

Although Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is slated to release on the 26th in the states, a few lucky folks have already managed to not only obtain a copy of the game early, but also completed several character's stories, namely, Mega Man Volnutt, Zero and Roll. As such, footage of the three's new endings (provided by the artists of UDON Entertainment) have surfaced online, and you can check them out after the break...

Cancelled NT Warrior Figures Up For Grabs

VendorMan's is currently offering, among other goods, three unreleased NT Warrior prototype figures: ElecTeam Mega Man, WoodShield Mega Man and AquaCustom Mega Man.

These not-so-common figures will run you $24.95 a pop. There's only one available of each, so if you want them, you'd better act quick!

For details on how to order, hop on over to VendorMan's.

Mega Man 10 Achievements Revealed

Xbox360Achievements.org has gotten their hands on the official achievements listing for Mega Man 10. Twelve in all (worth a total of 200 Gamerpoints), the achievements are practically the same as those offered in MM9:

For the rest of the batch, head on over to Xbox360Achievements.org

Ippo Yamada Working On Arranged Zero Music

Famed Mega Man series composer Ippo Yamada, who has been involved with the music for the ZX series, and Mega Man 9, among others, is said to be working on new arrangements of Zero series music.  On his official blog, Yamada had the following to say: "Tonight I'm planning on an all-nighter working on Zero melody arrangements."

Immediately, I'm left to wonder if he's involved in the Zero Collection project, possibly producing remixes for the game, or maybe he's simply putting together another arrange CD album.  Who knows at this point.

Hopefully, Yamada will enlighten us sooner rather than later! We'll keep you posted.

Credit: The Mega Man Network

Survival Net Battle Neo Footage

An attendee of the World Hobby Fair has come through with some excellent footage of the final decisive match in the Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star tournament 'Survival Net Battle Neo.' The tournament just wrapped up last weekend at Japan's World Hobby Fair where fans of varying ages competed to become the top Net Battler.

Check out the heated fight after the break...

Rush Marine Now On BlackBerry

The BlackBerry version of Mega Man Rush Marine has gone live, and is now available for purchase on a number of BlackBerry mobile devices.  The game will run you $6.99, and can be purchased off of your 'berry's on-device store, or from specialty sites like Bplay. A list of compatible devices and services here.

Still no word on an iPhone version, unfortunately.

Credit: PocketBerry

Matt Moylan Talks Iwamoto's X Series Manga (Updated)

Reader Flame put the question to UDON's managing editor, Matt Moylan, about whether or not UDON plans on translating Yoshihiro Iwamoto's famed Rockman X manga series, citing that like Ariga's Megamix, there has been a great demand to see stories come stateside. Matt's answer:

"It is something we will think about after seeing how well the Megamix and ZX mangas sell. If these series do initially well, next we would do Ariga's Gigamix, and then think more seriously about Iwamoto's X manga.
There are a few things to consider.

1)it is a big investment, as Iwamoto's X manga runs something like 12 tankobons(manga volumes)
2) his art is pretty retro, but there are people who like that style
3) price - since the X series is less popular than the classic mega man, and the art style might not be for everyone, we'd expect this series might not sell as well, so we might have to raise the price a little if we did this series.


I have checked out some of it though. It's definitely a little more old school that our other manga series, but it has its own charm. Story wise I'm afraid I haven't read enough to comment yet. "

Personally, I'd love to see these in English, but I can see where Matt's coming from on this one. So, what say you?

UPDATE: Matt has come through with a follow-up:

"If we did do the X mangas, I'm pretty sure we would do them in the 5 mega-volume collection format. But even in this format, there would still be a lot of investment needed.

By investment meant I meant not only the cost of licensing fees, but also the cost of translation, lettering, printing etc. Even if we licensed only the first MMX mega book as a test run, that book is huge, like almost 600 pages (I have a copy on my desk here actually heh). Just the first volume be about as much work as the whole Megamix series. So there's that to consider.

On MMX's popularity, there are definitely tons of X fans out there, I know, and they are a dedicated bunch. But as a spinoff it's always going to be less popular than the core series. We can see this with our two mm complete works books. Released at the same time, same price, similar contents, MM Classic OCW is selling better than MMX OCW. Neither sells BAD, but there is a gap between them for sure. So when thinking of X manga, we have to assume that sales on it VS the classic Ariga stuff will have a similar sales gap. Also a longer series with a more expensive price point per volume (regardless of page count) affects sales as well. It's a much tougher sell to the casual buyer.

But even with all that, it's not to say any of this is a deal breaker, it's all just things we have to keep in mind."

March Release For Cut Man, Elec Man Vinyl Figures

Toys 'R' Us employee Banjo sends word that both Cut Man and Elec Man 'JUVI' vinyl figures have appeared in the TRU computers with an unspecified March release.  Banjo was also generous enough to pass along a couple stock photos of each figure:

Both figures are set to retail for $9.99, and will be sold online and in-stores. We'll keep you informed when they become available!

Thanks, Banjo.

Badass Vile Custom Model

Slated to appear at the Japanese Wonder Festival in February, here's a sneak peek at an upcoming Vile model kit:

The kit, made by a fellow going by the name of 'Rockman@Hyou', will be available in limited quantities, and since it's a custom, will likely sell for a pretty penny. Pricing is TBA.

You can catch a glimpse of more upcoming Wonder Festival figures (including a mini-Rockman figure) at Tomopop.

Capcom Announces Mega Man 10 Fan-Art Contest

In anticipation for Mega Man 10's March release, Capcom is throwing together a fan-art contest where you could be eligible to win some pretty sweet prizes.  Each week, Capcom will spotlight one of the eight Mega Man 10 Robot Masters, and it's up to you to either draw or create a piece of art that features that specific Robot Master in some shape or form. This week, it's none other than Commando Man!

More details after the break...

Rockman Zero Collection Trailer

Well, what do you think? The bottom screen looks to be used to navigate through a database of sorts and depict character artwork during gameplay sequences.

So far, Zero Collection is looking pretty spiffy. Here's hoping Capcom will shed some light on extra content and such soon!

[via Rockman Zero Collection official website]  Thanks for the heads up, Repliroid20XX.

--------------------
UPDATE: Upon closer inspection, the menu depicted at the 1:15 point looks to an e-modification card menu...

The Rockman Zero modification cards were cards sold exclusively in Japan in 2004, and when used with Nintendo's e-Reader device, they would make minor modifications to Rockman Zero's 3 gameplay.  To accommodate for the lack of an e-Reader, Zero Collection looks to be integrating this system into the game in some way.  'Course, this is just speculation, so don't take my word for it.

Zero Collection, Mega Man 10 Details From WHF

The World Hobby Fair kicked off in Japan yesterday, and naturally, Rockman had a fairly big presence in the form of a new playable Mega Man 10 demo, and a couple of  Zero Collection announcements. Thanks to the eye witness account of Capkobun, and a translation provided by The Mega Man Network here are the details:

Zero Collection

• Was formally announced at the event right after the OSS Survival NEO Net Battle tournament, with screens of the game shown. There was also a one page ad for it in the event pamphlet.
• A promotional movie featured both artwork from the games and official character illustrations.
• A new feature to called the Collection Mode for now was announced. Details about it are unclear, but it may be gallery mode to view character artwork and such.

Mega Man 10 demo

• Unlike the CES demo, this demo featured both Strike Man’s and Blade Man’s stages playable to completion (though it’s not mentioned if they had Robot Masters).
• Proto Man was playable for the demo in both easy and normal modes.
• Strike Man’s stage midboss is called Goalie Keeper.
• Blade Man’s stage midboss is a castle-like robot (as seen in the promotional video). Its eyes are its weak point, and when defeated it throws up a white flag.
• 200 Mega Man 10 caps were given out to attendees.

The WHF is still going on, so expect more updates throughout the day. Stay tuned!

No Western Release For Operate Shooting Star

In a thread over at Capcom-Unity, Christian Svensson, Capcom's Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, stepped in to field a fan's inquiry regarding a potential Western release of Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star. His response:

"For the moment, no plans for a Western release."

And just like that, an English release of OSS is swiftly denied. While it's by no means a dead end (plans do change here and there), it's still unfortunate.

What can you do about this? Well, there's always Capcom's new suggestion box, wherein you could kindly request OSS to be released and translated outside of Japan, or you could wait patiently for an inevitable fan-translation patch to surface, which I'm sure isn't too far off...

Many thanks to Jimb0 for the heads up!

'PET' App Comes To Mobile Phones

Mobile phone savvy Rockman fans in Japan have a pretty neat little gift awaiting them at the winter World Hobby Fair this weekend in the form of a Rockman EXE PET application.

Accessing a special Q-Code at the event, attendees can get equipped with the free app which not only tells the time, but also provides users with EXE-themed trivia, emoticons, wallpapers and access to news and screenshots of current upcoming Capcom games.

If your in Japan this weekend, stop by Capcom's booth and grab the app for yourself!

Source: OSS official site

'Ruby-Spears' Mega Man Cartoon Stream Available For iPhone/iPod

Anime Network launched a new video-on-demand streaming application for iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices the other day, and the 'Ruby-Spears' Mega Man cartoon is being offered as one of the initial titles.

The $6.99 subscription to the app gives users 30-days worth of streamed content with additional episodes and shows being added on a weekly basis. The subscription also enables access to a few Mega Man-themed wallpapers for use with either device.

All in all, A pretty sweet (albeit pricey) deal if you're a fan of the show, more so if you've longed to take it on-the-go. For full details, download links and more, make your way over to The Anime Network here.

Thanks for the tip, Neko.

Mega Man Dukes It Out In New Tatsunoko VS. Capcom TV-Spot

Pretty cool, wouldn't you say? The last time Mega Man Volnutt was featured in an English commercial was way back in late '99/early 2000 in this atrocity.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars hits retailers nationwide on January 26th.

Rockman Zero Collection Announced For DS (UPDATE)

Capcom today unveiled Rockman Zero Collection for the Nintendo DS, which as the title suggests, is a collection of all four Rockman Zero/Mega Man Zero GameBoy Advance games in a single DS cartridge:

According to the official site, the game will release on April 22nd for 4,190 Yen ($46).  Other than that, details are pretty slim at the moment.  I speculate we'll learn more during this weekend's World Hobby Fair in Japan, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Credit: Rockman Perfect Memories

UPDATE: Would you like to see this collection released outside of Japan? Let Capcom know here!

MM10's Blade Man, Solar Man Inspired By Old Fan Designs?

Whether unintentional or by sheer lack of originality, the similarities between Mega Man 10 Robot Masters Blade Man and Solar Man and age-old fan designs are pretty surprising...

"Sun Man" and "Blade Man"(?!) here are apparently old entries from Nintendo Power's design-a-Robot-Master contest.  Back in the early 90's, Nintendo Power magazine gave North American fans a chance to submit designs for new Robot Master characters, who if chosen, would be featured in the newest Mega Man game, earning an honorary position among the Robot Master roster.

These two didn't win back then, but it looks as if they're finally getting their due, fifteen years later.

Credits: NeoGaf, Klavier Gavin

More MM10 Robot Master Details - Sprites, Art, Screenshots

IGN blew the door open on everything you'd want to know about Mega Man 10's Robot Masters tonight, revealing their individual sprites, artwork and profiles in a detailed article.  A select few items from the post below:

Tons more sprites, screenshots and artwork of each Robot Master here!

The Time Has Come To Make Your Voices Heard!

Tonight, Capcom unveiled the much anticipated Suggestion Box, where you, the fans, submit suggestions/requests to the company.  Before the head-honchos hear what you have to say, a community-wide vote will be held to determine who's suggestion is best. The winning suggestion will then be reviewed at one of Capcom's internal meetings, and be considered.

That's right: if you want a specific Mega Man game to be developed, like Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man X9, ZX3, Command Mission 2, etc., this is your big opportunity for Capcom to hear your demands!

Before you go all hog wild, please be sure to read the complete details here. Once you got that out of the way, you may place your suggestions into the suggestion box here!

Mega Man 10 Robot Masters Revealed In Coro Coro

Hot off the presses, the latest issue of Coro Coro Comics revealed the identities of all eight Robot Masters for Mega Man 10.  Check them out below!

From left to right: Pump Man, Strike Man, Chill Man and Solar Man...

....Sheep Man, Blade Man, Nitro Man, and Commando Man.

• Commando Man: Attacks with a powerful explosive wave.
  
• Blade Man: Attacks with three swords.
  
• Nitro Man: Can transform into a motorcycle.
  
• Sheep Man: Splits up and creates lightning strikes.
  
• Solar Man: Absorbs attacks and attacks with solar energy from his head.
  
• Chill Man: Fires an icy shot. 
  
• Pump Man: Has a water-themed shield weapon.
  
• Strike Man: Throws a powerful fastball

Higher quality scans are on the way, so stay tuned!

Credits: Bob, RockX, The Mega Man Network